Students reflect on the Parkland, Fla. mass shooting, near-constant worries about the threat of gun violence in their schools and what they see as a lack of government response to make schools safer. (Interviews by NorthJersey staff videographers.)
Michael V. Pettigano / NorthJersey.com

The E.G. Hewitt school in Ringwood, as seen in June 2017.(Photo: David M. Zimmer/NorthJersey.com)

RINGWOOD — A group of local parents will hold a discussion on school security Thursday night in the wake of the shooting death of 17 at a Parkland, Florida school.

The discussion, planned for 7 p.m. Thursday was expected to be a small gathering of parents sharing their concerns over dinner, said Stephen Arienta, a Wanaque father of a freshman at Lakeland Regional High School. However, after extending the dinner invitation to the public over Facebook, the potential crowd has grown into the triple digits.

“We’ve had an outpouring of people very interested in taking up this issue with us,” said Arienta, a 2016 Passaic County freeholder candidate, retired New York Police Department detective and criminal justice professor at Westchester Community College in New York.

“The meeting on Thursday if not to spout my ideas. The meeting is to share ideas and come to a collective agreement on what we think is best for our children. Then we can bring that to the Board of Ed. and hopefully they’ll agree,” he added.

In addition to concerned parents, representatives from the Lakeland Regional High School, Wanaque, and Ringwood school districts are expected to attend the meeting at Brady's at the Reservoir. Arienta said the meeting will not be a discussion on gun control.

"If it's productive conversation and they bring us something, we'd be more than happy to listen," said Raymond Dwyer, Ringwood's school board president. "Security is a community effort."

Haskell School in Wanaque, where a former student wandered the halls after being denied a visit with a teacher.(Photo: Jai Agnish/Northjersey.com)

Ringwood Police Chief Joseph Walker said he will attend. Nevertheless, Walker said school and law enforcement officials should have been specifically invited to participate in such a sensitive and complicated discussion.

“If people had a concern, they could call the superintendent, call me. We would have a forum to explain as much as we can without divulging our strategy,” Walker said. “We can’t have parents give security advice.”

Krista Arienta, Arienta’s wife, was involved with a 2012 petition to place armed guards in Wanaque schools following the Sandy Hook shooting.

“Metal detectors, lock down mechanisms, and armed security should be fixtures in every school,” Krista Arienta, wrote on Facebook last week. “Our kids have basically become sitting ducks. It's an unfortunate fact, but it's the world we live in.”

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Stephen Arienta said he also supports armed personnel, specifically retired police officers, in local schools. Since 2016, New Jersey has authorized a new class of school law enforcement officer that allows retired officers to carry firearms while on security duty and work more than 20 hours per week.

“We use armed professionals to guard money. It’s not that big of a stretch to asked armed professionals to guard our most precious and valuable resource,” he said. “I don’t want to be one of those grieving parents.”

Walker said school security remains the top priority in Ringwood. Local police have helped implement several practices in area schools that are now used elsewhere including class numbers on outside windows and colored lanyards with name tags for staff, he said.

Arienta said he has fears that police response time in upper Passaic County’s expansive municipalities are simply too long to rely upon. He added police can only respond to situations if they are made aware, referencing a June 2017 incident at Wanaque’s Haskell School.

Lakeland Regional High School's marker stone was donated by graduating classes in the 1990s.(Photo: Jai Agnish/Northjersey.com)

A former student entered the building to speak with a teacher before wandering the hallways for a period, Superintendent Donna L. Cardiello said shortly after the incident. Wanaque police officials said they were not notified of the incident until the next day.

Walker said he and other area chiefs are working to make sure that police are ready when they get the call.

Last summer, 40 officers from the region received active shooter training at Lakeland, Walker said. In prior sessions, officers were trained in other schools to familiarize them with the various layouts that are often focused on meeting fire codes above all, he added.

Passaic County Technical Institute also conducts no less than three active shooter drills each school year, said Principal Michael Parent in an email to the school community.

"Our faculty, administration, and staff is here to keep the campus as safe as possible," Parent wrote. "The students’ full participation in active shooter drills are designed to save life, not to fulfill a mandate."

Thursday's discussion is due to be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at Brady's at the Reservoir, 15 Greenwood Lake Turnpike. Organizers warn the event may be moved if attendance grows too high. Up-to-date information can be found on the Guardian Angel Parents page on Facebook.